As we prepare for Trimester 3 and the launch of MyLearn, the Project Uplift team have had the opportunity to incorporate much of the feedback we’ve gathered from staff and students as well as common themes that have appeared during the unit review processes. The outcome is a more distinct visual identity and more consistent design elements in UNE’s teaching unit layout. For those teaching next Trimester you’ll see these roll out into your upcoming unit sites as we get closer to launch.
Unit Home (Section Zero)
The ‘Home’ Section, often referred to as ‘Topic Zero’ or ‘Section Zero’, is an important Section that appears above all other Tiles. As the first thing students see on a myLearn site, this Section should be used to ‘set the stage’ and provide students with a welcoming orientation to the unit. Since the Section is collapsible, it has been designed to be a minimal but inviting and informative space. The Section contains:
- ‘Unit News and Announcements’ Forum
- A Welcome Video and Welcome text, side-by-side.
As the Home Section/Section Zero is collapsible in myLearn, it is a great place for minimal, static content, before diving into the dynamic, rich unit content.
How to edit this in your unit:
- The short Welcome Video, sitting to the left, should be hosted on UNE media platforms and will display automatically to take up the correct width on the page. To edit the existing placeholder, click on the left panel, and using the editor button add your video. Once saved you should see the full video. Tips and ideas for making good welcome videos can be found here.
- The short written welcome message, sitting to the right, may begin as either an existing message or the unit descriptor from Handbook. You can refine this to the welcome message you want to give by editing the existing placeholder. Approximately 100-150 words makes for a paragraph of text that sits neatly beside the welcome video.
- Longer welcomes and updates should be posted in Unit News and Announcements forum at the top where they’ll be sent directly to all learners and stored for viewing throughout the trimester.
- For other content, the Unit Information and Resources Tile is a great place for core information and resources.
Tiles
As part of consistencies embedded across units in myLearn, the first two tiles in all sites will be the Unit Information and Resources Tile and Assessments Tile (described below) which will have standardised images to ensure they are easy to recognise. These two tiles will be followed by any School-specific tiles, then Tiles for your unit material and content (customised to suit your unit context). The image on these content-related tiles may default to a generic pie chart icon, or appear as numbered tiles – but customising these to topic relevant images will allow a clear visual cue for your learners.
A ‘dashboard’ image is also a new addition in myLearn. When first logging in via Moodle, an image representing your unit should now appear in place of the previous plain coloured rectangle to help differentiate the unit within the list. These can be changed by talking to your Uplift team member or the Learning Design Team at any time.
How to edit this in your unit:
- These first two ‘core’ tiles should be kept with their standardised tile images, which are in use across all Schools’ units as a consistent cue for where to find key information and assessment details.
- Latter tiles however, are highly encouraged to be updated to meet your context. These images are best sized as 300×200 pixels, and many sources of free stock images are available for copyright-compliant sourcing. More information on sourcing and adding tile images can be found here
Unit Information and Resources
The ‘Unit Information and Resources’ Tile is the best place to curate essential unit information and resources for students. In the past, many units presented this information in multiple locations – in myLearn, we have a refocused, single location for the key information and resources students will revisit throughout their study.
The Tile includes four key sections:
- Unit Coordinator contact details and preferred contact methods – This section contains contact details for the Unit Coordinator and/or teaching team, and preferred contact methods. Generic text has been added to get you started, but this can easily be edited to articulate your preferred contact methods and communication expectations.
- Information – Information about the unit learning outcomes, how students will be assessed, required learning resources (like textbooks), intensive schools, and a week-by-week schedule of topics covered in the unit will be provided in this section.
- Resources – This section will contain links to recordings, readings and other unit-specific resources that students will revisit throughout their study of the unit.
- Forums and Communication – Forums are used for many different purposes at UNE, and so generic Forums, like unit Q&A or student introduction Forums, have been collated in this section so that they are easy for students to find. Context-specific Forums, like weekly reflection Forums or assessment-specific Forums, are still located in the context that is most meaningful and logical for students and their study.
Many of the items in this Tile will have a short line of descriptive text underneath, which, after the switch to myLearn, will display neatly within the activity and provide context for students.
How to edit this in your unit:
- Contact details are kept within a single, editable label at the top of this Tile. By editing the label you can adjust the best contact name, title, contact details, and availability.
- Existing or new activities can be added or moved under one of the headings above where you feel best fit its purpose.
Assessments
The ‘Assessments’ Tile is the home of all things assessment in myLearn, and should be a familiar space in most units. Improved signposting of assessable tasks has been added in myLearn, with clearer separation between tasks, and important details like weightings and due dates made visible on the main Assessment page. Full assessment details will continue to be available inside each assessment task. In myLearn, assessment due dates will appear directly on the activity itself, along with any restrictions, which sync with settings.
How to edit this in your unit:
Assignment and Quiz due dates remain editable within their individual settings. Navigate to the relevant task, select Settings from the administrative settings banner, and adjust dates as necessary.
